- Russia Bans Crypto, Again. The central bank and Russian authorities are considering the possibility of a complete ban on cryptocurrency for Russians.
- The Prosecutor General’s Office is preparing a law on the arrest and confiscation of crypto money from Russian citizens.
- It is only known that the regulator is currently negotiating with various participants and market experts about a possible ban on investments in tokens.
The central bank and Russian authorities are considering the possibility of a complete ban on cryptocurrency for Russians. In the State Duma, there are even proposals on criminal liability for bitcoin and other tokens. The Prosecutor General’s Office is preparing a law on the arrest and confiscation of crypto money from Russian citizens. The final decision on this issue should be made in 2022. As an alternative to tokens, the Central Bank offers a digital ruble, which does not yet exist.
Russia Bans Crypto, Again
Russians may lose the opportunity to invest in cryptocurrency in the very near future, writes Reuters, citing unnamed sources close to the Central Bank. According to them, the regulator is studying the possibility of new restrictions against the background of certain “risks to financial stability against the backdrop of the growth of the crypto market and virtual transactions.”
Such a vague definition does not explain exactly what the central bank is concerned about this time. It is only known that the regulator is currently negotiating with various participants and market experts about a possible ban on investments in tokens.
In this case, “investments” apparently means the exchange of real money for virtual money, that is, the purchase of crypto tokens for rubles, dollars, euros, etc.
Reuters analysts cite the words of two sources close to the Bank of Russia bans Crypto. One of them claims that the upcoming ban will only apply to new acquisitions of tokens, and the assets that people already have will not be affected.
Another source is sure that the Russian authorities will not give any concessions to the citizens of Russia bans crypto. According to his forecasts, a complete ban on Russian ownership of any cryptocurrency in any quantity is approaching.
Also Read : Scammer steals $1 Million worth of Crypto
As an example of the negative attitude of the Central Bank to cryptocurrencies, Reuters cites the statement of the First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank, Ksenia Yudaeva , which was made earlier in December 2021. cryptocurrencies reduce the effectiveness of monetary policy.
Why Russia Bans Crypto Every Now and Then?
Currently, not only the Central Bank is choosing between two options for the development of the situation with the Russia Bans crypto. According to Interfax, the Russian authorities are doing exactly the same thing.
In particular, Anatoly Aksakov , head of the State Duma committee on the financial market, said that this issue is being considered right now. According to him, the cryptocurrency will either be legalized or completely banned, and the decision will be made during the first half of 2022.
“All discussions related to how to determine the appropriate new instruments and how to tax should be completed in the spring session (from January 10 to July 31, 2022 – CNews comment), so that in the next tax period, 2023 ., already we could enter with full understanding of how all this should be regulated “, – said Aksakov.
Aksakov himself made a proposal to introduce mining into the All-Russian Classifier of Economic Activities (OKVED). According to him, this will open up the opportunity to impose taxes on this type of activity and, along the way, will allow miners to receive electricity at prices for industrial consumers.
Estimated punishment for bitcoin as Russia bans crypto
The central bank has repeatedly pointed out its complete rejection of cryptocurrency as an alternative to real money and might have came to a conclusion that russia bans bictoin. This, in particular, was directly stated by the head of the regulator Elvira Nabiullina .
Nabiullina expressed this opinion, including in November 2021, during her speech in the State Duma. According to her, the two main problems of tokens are that, firstly, they are anonymous and, secondly, that no one is responsible for them.
The leadership of the Central Bank believes that Russians should be punished for using cryptocurrencies to the fullest extent of the law. In September 2021, the regulator announced that it is discussing amendments designed to even more severely restrict the use of tokens in the country. Violations, according to these amendments, will be punishable by criminal or at least administrative responsibility. This, according to Interfax, said the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank Sergei Shvetsov at the panel discussion of the International Banking Forum.
The authorities have long been planning to replenish domestic prisons at the expense of miners. The law governing the treatment of cryptocurrency, valid from 1 January 2021, but in November 2020 the Russian Ministry of Finance has acted with the proposal to put the Russians in prison for violation of rules for handling cryptocurrency as russia bans crypto. Moreover, the department had already prepared a package of amendments to two Russian codes at once – the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code.
According to the proposed changes, owners of cryptocurrencies, be it Bitcoin (Bitcoin), Ether (Ethereum), Monero (Monero), etc., can be imprisoned for up to three years as russia bans crypto. In total, the authorities have provided for several types of criminal punishment, depending on the severity of the crime. So, in addition to temporary “relocation” to places not so remote, owners of cryptocurrencies face fines of up to 2 million rubles. and forced labor for up to five years. For more on this , read in the material CNews.
Also, the authorities intend to take away their savings in cryptocurrency from the Russians. In early December 2021, CNews wrote that the Prosecutor General’s Office began to develop a law that would allow seizing and even confiscating bitcoin as russia bans crypto.
Possible alternative
Hinting at the possible transformation of Russians associated with Russia bans crypto currency into criminals, the leadership of the Central Bank believes that the citizens of the country should be provided with an alternative to bitcoins and other tokens. Only this should be a purely domestic development, and the Russian authorities have one.
“People need to be given an alternative, and we do this with the help of our projects. I have already spoken about the digital ruble – in our opinion, this should develop, “said the head of the Central Bank in November 2021 at a speech in the State Duma.
As of mid-December 2021, the digital ruble as such existed only on paper. A month earlier, Nabiullina said that it could take more than a year to test the prototype of the digital ruble alone. In November 2021, it became known that the launch of the virtual ruble prototype by the Central Bank is scheduled for early 2022, without a more precise date.
The digital ruble is an additional form of the Russian national currency, the ruble. The crypto-ruble will be issued directly by the Central Bank as russia bans crypto. It is assumed that it will combine the properties of both cash and non-cash rubles, that is, they can be paid both online and in the absence of an Internet connection.
